DailyDirt: It's Not All In Your DNA...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Every cell (or nearly every cell) in your body contains the same copy of DNA instructions. Somehow, though, your heart muscle cells know how to beat while your red blood cells do a very different bodily function. There's quite a lot about DNA that we know about, but the genetic process is still not fully understood.

• Did you know that your genetic expressions change with the seasons? Researchers have known for some time that DNA seems to react to different parts of the day, but they've also recently seen that gene expression can change with the time of year, as the days are shorter/longer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it appears that thousands of genes related to the immune system are more active in the winter. #WinterIsComingDNA [url]
• Everyone knows that sleep is important, but can just one all-nighter have lasting effects on your genes? Maybe? All kinds of stress can induce changes in how your genes are expressed. Intense exercise can cause some lasting genetic effects. A lack of sleep for just one night can have measurable effects, but there are also multiple factors that can disrupt your circadian rhythm -- even after just one sleepless night. Still, it's probably a good idea to try not to skimp on sleeping, if you can avoid it. [url]
• Correlation isn't causation, but people with depression seem to have more mitochondrial DNA and shorter telomeres than people without symptoms of major depression. Perhaps it's not shocking that depression is another kind of stress that can have detrimental effects on our genes, but now there's some hard evidence that could help us understand the connections between mental health and physical health. [url]

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Filed Under: biology, biotech, circadian rhythm, dna, gene expression, genetic code, health, sleep, sleep deprivation, telomeres